Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Bestselling blockbusters

Reading the future of books and movies...

Salman Rushdie presented the world his magnum opus – Midnight’s Children – in 1981 and more than 25 years later, people are still bewitched by this tale. Not only did it bag the ‘Booker’ of Bookers last year, but now Deepa Mehta is planning to bring it to life on the silver screen. Filmmakers have often looked to books for inspiration, but Midnight’s Children is understandably no ordinary book. Deepa, along with Imran Khan as her lead star, and Salman Rushdie himself by her side, paying extraordinary attention to the making of the film, might just be able to succeed in recreating this intricate, magical story; though it’s no menial task. Yet complex scripts haven’t deterred filmmakers as yet! Innumerous books have been made into films, and as the trend keeps growing, one wonders if writing books, while keeping films in mind is their ticket to money and fame?

With over 1,000 films churned out of our country alone, it’s no surprise that books are often made into movies, and when it’s one like Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Devdas – just one film is so not enough to do the book justice! After Shahrukh Khan’s much-lauded performance as Devdas just 6-7 years ago, the new talented kid on the block, Abhay Deol, is now out to paint the character in a more modern but equally inebriated hues in Dev D. While Vidhu Vinod Chopra had masterfully recreated another of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s book – Parineeta – he is now betting his money on the story Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat. Titled 3 Idiots, the film has Aamir Khan in the lead role. Another of Bhagat’s book – One Night @ the Call Center – was made into the very forgettable film Hello. Vishal Bharadwaj brought Shakespeare’s stories to the common people in India through his films Maqbool and Omkara. And the film which has finally got our countrymen seriously into the race for the Oscars – Slumdog Millionaire – is also based on a book – Q & A by Vikas Swarup.

The story is quite the same in the west too. From romances like Gone with the Wind, Pride and Prejudice, My Fair Lady, to mafia dramas like Godfather to science fiction films like War of the Worlds, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, to fantasy films like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter – countless classic films have been made out of equally rivetting books.